If you viewed my June 7, 2017 In the Spotlight piece (http://www.briggscorp.com/news/news.aspx?nid=301), you saw that CMS posted an Advance Copy of a brand new Appendix to the State Operations Manual (SOM) – Appendix Z.

On June 2, 2017, CMS released the advance copy of a new appendix for the State Operations Manual (SOM) – Appendix Z. This Appendix “contains the interpretive guidelines and survey procedures for the Emergency Preparedness Final Rule.” This Final Rule affects 17 providers and suppliers and will be implemented on November 15, 2017.

There’s a “new” initiative that you may or may not be aware of but it will affect all providers and Medicare beneficiaries. SSNRI, along with MBI, are acronyms that will soon become part of our regular conversations.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued proposed revisions to arbitration agreement requirements for long-term care facilities. These proposed revisions would help strengthen transparency in the arbitration process, reduce unnecessary provider burden and support residents’ rights to make informed decisions about important aspects of their health care.

The Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) Review and Correct reports are now available on demand in the CMS Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reporting (CASPER) application. Providers can access these reports by selecting the CASPER Reporting link on the "Welcome to the CMS QIES Systems for Providers" webpage.
The Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) Review and Correct reports are now available on demand in the CMS Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reporting (CASPER) application. Providers can access these reports by selecting the CASPER Reporting link on the "Welcome to the CMS QIES Systems for Providers" webpage.

CMS issued S&C: 17-27-NH on Friday May 12, 2017. In this Survey and Certification notice, CMS provided clarification as to when the State LTC Ombudsman must be notified of a resident’s transfer or discharge from the facility.

National Nursing Home Week has been celebrated for 50 years - since 1967. This year’s theme is The Spirit of America. The theme “underscores the bond between staff, volunteers and residents that capture the American spirit.” (AHCA – American Health Care Association).

A Quick Reference Guide for Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) is now available. This guide includes frequently asked questions, information on help desks and helpful links to additional resources for the Quality Reporting Program (QRP).

A great education tool is available at Medicare-Required SNF PPS Assessments Educational Tool. Not only will you learn more about the assessments required for the SNF PPS (Prospective Payment System), you’ll get information regarding factors that affect the assessment schedule and the reporting of assessment results. Below is a view of the Menu within this tool:

CMS is offering two (2) training webinars during the 1st week of April 2017 for physicians, nurses, social workers, care managers, family caregivers, those caring for persons with dementia and providers involved in assisting persons with decision-making.

The TMF Health Quality Institute, under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, is hosting a series of webinars for post-acute care providers to increase understanding of the PEPPER program and the data that the PEPPER forms provide.

On March 22, 2016, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) issued a proposal to ban powdered surgeon’s gloves, powdered patient examination gloves and absorbable powder for lubricating a surgeon’s glove, citing “powdered gloves are dangerous for a variety of reasons.

On September 8, 2016 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the final rule that outlines emergency preparedness requirements for 17 Medicare and Medicaid providers and suppliers. The final rule was published on September 16, 2016 in the Federal Register.

CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) has released this much-anticipated final rule for publication in the Federal Register on Tuesday, October 4, 2016 with the first phase due for completion by November 28, 2016.

It’s hot outside now – no doubt about that. Despite the heat and summer activities, it’s not too early to start preparing for the upcoming influenza season in this country. The flu vaccine will soon be shipped and will be available in our communities in just a few short weeks.

We missed you at this webinar on July 20th! Our goal was to provide you with the basic overview of MDS 3.0 Item Set changes that are effective October 1, 2016 and a specific look at the new Section GG as well as the new standalone End of Part A Stay discharge assessment.

CMS is hosting the Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Reporting Program Provider Training on Tuesday, June 21st and Wednesday, June 22nd in Atlanta, GA. This training session filled up very quickly so most providers were not able to get a seat.

Each year the SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands campaign aims to progress the goal of maintaining a global profile on the importance of hand hygiene in health care and to ‘bring people together’ in support of hand hygiene improvement globally.

“Active Shooter on Campus” - no one wants to hear those words. Unfortunately, these situations can and do happen in our Senior Care facilities, and we owe it to our staff and residents to be prepared if the unthinkable happens.

Research done in a hospital based in South Carolina suggests that the location of hand sanitizers in a hospital is critical to how much they get used. By placing them in the middle of the lobby in front of the visitor entrance, there was a significant increase in usage.

Briggs Healthcare® salutes all long-term care Administrators for their hard work and commitment to their facilities/communities! The Administrator provides leadership, guidance and support for staff as well as oversees quality care and quality of life for each resident.

Colon cancer affects the lower portion of the digestive tract known as the large intestine. Rectal cancer involves the last several inches of the colon. These cancers are often referred to as colorectal cancer.

Briggs Healthcare, the leader in healthcare documentation and regulatory compliance services, is pleased to announce the launch of its new partnership with Virtual Interactive Families to offer an interactive, encrypted video-conferencing platform.

A FULL HOUSE – A Long Term Care Guide to Full Occupancy by Nina See-Quick
Life enrichment and programming can bring the community to life, define the culture of the community and most importantly, help the organization stand out from others down the street.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with the a “diverse” group of elder abuse experts and with the support of the Office of Elder Justice and Adult Protective Services Administration on Aging/Administration for Community Living, has just published a 124-page document for “possible use in standardizing the collection of (elder abuse) data locally and nationally”.

Of the more than four million people in U.S. nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, and assisted living facilities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 380,000 die because of healthcare-associated infections annually

January has been observed as National Mentoring Month for the past 15 years. President Obama provided this statement with his 2016 presidential proclamation: "At the heart of America's promise is the belief that we all do better when everyone has a fair shot at reaching for their dreams.

Another new year has begun. Chances are you’ve made some resolutions and chances are even greater that they’re the same ones you’ve made in the past. Instead of resolutions, let’s take a look at some tips to start and end 2016 successfully – personally and professionally.

December 1, 2015 – DeVero, Inc., a cloud-based and customizable electronic health record (EHR) software, is pleased to announce the expansion of their partnership with Briggs Healthcare, the leader in Home Health and Hospice documentation and regulatory solutions. After the success of the initial partnership, driven by the Home Health Service Line, DeVero and Briggs have teamed up to develop a Hospice forms suite, leveraging the workflow, content, and compliance of the Briggs Hospice paper forms together with the simple, yet powerful DeVero technology.

In order to help with the daily care and maintenance of diabetes, Briggs offers Sensifoot Diabetic Socks. These socks provide minimal compression, a smooth toe seam, extra padding, wicking properties are antibacterial and antifungal!

GEORGETOWN, TX and DES MOINES, IA, November 2, 2015 – Collain Healthcare, an LG CNS Company, and Briggs Healthcare announced a partnership to facilitate compliance and create efficiencies for clinical teams. With this partnership, patient assessment documentation from Briggs Healthcare will be available in the LG CNS post-acute software solution suite.

Briggs Healthcare, the leader in Post-Acute documentation and regulatory solutions, announced the launch of Briggs Inside, a web based platform offering a robust library of Briggs forms electronically.

Briggs Healthcare, the leader in Post-Acute documentation and regulatory solutions, announced the launch of Briggs Inside, a web based platform offering a robust library of Briggs forms electronically.

September 18 is National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day, an annual campaign that draws attention to older Americans aging with HIV/AIDS. Older adults are often overlooked in the ongoing HIV/AIDS conversation, yet the number of people aged 50 and older who are living with AIDS continues to grow.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration(FDA) are alerting healthcare providers and facilities about the public health need to properly maintain, clean, and disinfect or sterilize reusable medical devices.

The “Countdown to ICD-10” National Provider Call took place on Thursday, August 27, 2015.
If you missed that call, you can still obtain the handout as well as listen to the audio recording and view the written transcript.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will offer a webinar on CRE and C. difficile Prevention Efforts Thursday August 20, 2015 at 2 p.m. EST. Participants can join this call by dialing 888-469-1370 and entering the passcode 3791890.

The “no healthcare facility is an island” effect is growing concern for acute and sub-acute infection prevention programs.1 Between an estimated one and three million serious infections occur in long-term care facilities each year, and these infections have been demonstrated to impact infection rates at regionally-associated hospitals and nursing homes

These are a few of the words President Obama used when announcing that his administration and CMS are poised to release a proposed rule that will rewrite regulations for Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing facilities.

CMS has just announced a National Provider Call that will be held just 5 weeks before the implementation of ICD-10 coding. All of the information about the content of this call is provided below. CMS recommends registering early as “space may be limited.”
Don’t miss out on this important call!

The push for long-term care facilities to abandon the use of off-label use of antipsychotic medications for residents with dementia will intensify over the next two years, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services officials said Thursday

Nursing homes will face more scrutiny based on a new key hazard list from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The new hazards, specified in an OSHA memorandum, include musculoskeletal disorders related to resident handling, workplace violence, bloodborne pathogens, tuberculosis and slips, trips and falls.

The greater Des Moines area received almost six inches of rain less than 12 hours on Wednesday, June 24 causing historic flooding in some areas of the city. This flooding caused the streets in the area to be barricaded for the majority of the day on Thursday until flood waters receded back into the river banks.

Monday, June 22nd marked day 100 in the countdown to implementation of ICD-10 coding.
To mark the occasion, CMS has posted a new Quick Start Guide highlighting 5 steps for providers to ensure readiness for October 1, 2015.

June is a glorious month. School is out for the summer, and the watermelons are sweet on the vine. Add the smell of freshly cut grass and you know summer is here. However, along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts this month means the arrival of hurricane season.

Now is the time to update and streamline your hiring and recruiting processes!!
myCNAjobs and Briggs Healthcare have partnered to deliver powerful new recruiting tools to help you hire caregivers, certified nursing assistants, resident assistants, and home health aides more effectively.

Monday June 15th is the 10th observance of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) was launched on June 15, 2006 by the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and the World Health Organization at the United Nations.

So this year as we celebrate the 38th Annual National Nursing Assistants Week take the time to thank your aides. It is important to remember that they are an important part of delivering quality patient-centered health care.

During the first week of June, the White House convened the Forum on Antibiotic Stewardship “to bring together key human and animal health constituencies involved in the development, promotion, and implementation of activities to improve antibiotic use (antibiotic stewardship) nationwide.”

As designated by the National Safety Council, June is National Safety Month. This year, they are focusing on the important topics of prescription painkiller abuse, transportation safety, ergonomics, emergency preparedness, and slips, trips and falls

To honor these dedicated individuals for all that they do day in and day out, Briggs Healthcare® extends a huge thank you for all you do! To show our appreciation, we would like to offer specials on items to assist NACs with their daily responsibilities.

Briggs Healthcare®, the leader in Post-Acute documentation and regulatory solutions, announced a partnership with Extended Care Professional (ECP), a web-based software solution for senior living communities.

More aggressive interventions with lonely elders may significantly decrease physician visits and healthcare costs, authors of a recent study conclude. And they assert their findings support a growing body of research establishing loneliness as a significant public health issue among older adults.

Does your facility provide adequate activities for residents? Activity Directors in facilities are faced with small budgets and low participation by other staff members. With A Full House: A Long Term Care Guide to Full Occupancy, you can learn to engage residents without breaking the budget

Friday, March 20, 2015 is the National Day of Recognition for Long-Term Care Physicians. Congress authorized this annual observance in 2010 to honor the work of its founder Dr. William Dodd. “Dr. Dodd was a community physician who recognized that residents of nursing homes were patients with complex medical problems and that physicians needed to be involved in establishing the standards of management and clinical care for the frail elderly and other residents in [LTC] facilities.”

On December 17, 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) held a Special Open Door Forum to announce the proposed addition of a new tool on the Home Health Compare website. Expected to start in July 2015, the Five Star Rating System will provide an easily understood comparative performance summary of home care agencies, for customer review. Agencies will be rated from one to five stars.

Briggs Healthcare, the leader in healthcare documentation and regulatory services, is happy to announce a partnership with LifeBio, which offers a simple yet innovative solution to capturing biographical data of residents or patients.

Briggs Healthcare has the resources needed for a smooth transition to ICD-10 on October 1, 2015! Download our 2015 ICD-10 Resource Guide today for our current offering of ICD-10 resources that includes Mappings, Quick Reference, Staff Training and more!

In yesterday’s Skilled/Long-Term Care Open Door Forum, CMS announced the posting of an Errata document late last week to clarify A1900 on the MDS 3.0 item set. Specifically, the document clarifies the meaning of Entry and Reentry as well as how to encode the fields A1600 through A1900. There are additional minor corrections to other parts of the RAI Manual.

Gloves are close to the cheapest and most effective defense against infections in healthcare settings. But even the best gloves are useless without proper infection control protocols and gloving techniques.

As a healthcare provider in the United States, you have a very personal stake in coding diagnoses on your facility’s claim forms (UB-04s) as well as identifying diagnosis codes on the MDS 3.0 Item Set or the OASIS C1 Item Set.

PEPPER, produced under contract for CMS, is a report that summarizes Medicare claims data statistics for areas that may be at risk for improper payment. One of the most valuable aspects of PEPPER is that is shows how a provider's billing statistics compare to all other providers in the nation, MAC jurisdiction, and state. These comparisons provide context so that providers can determine if they are at higher risk for improper payments

Limbkeepers are designed to help protect fragile skin from bruising, scratching and tearing. Each sleeve is made to provide comfort and cushion while allowing everyday clothing to be worn! Their universal design makes protecting arms, legs and hands simple and comfortable.

“According to the state health department, 64 percent of Iowans hospitalized for flu complications this winter have been 65 or older, even though that age group makes up less than 16 percent of the population. Just 15 percent of those hospitalized have been younger than 25.

Nursing homes and other healthcare providers should prepare for a bad flu season, based on indications that this year's dominant strain is dangerous and the vaccine might be of limited effectiveness, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday.

CMS conducted a short-term MDS Focused Survey pilot in mid 2014 in five states following a 2013 OIG (Office of Inspector General) report. According to the report, in 37 percent of stays, Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF) did not develop care plans that met requirements or did not provide services in accordance with care plans. It was also found that for 31 percent of stays, SNFs did not meet discharge planning requirements. Earlier work by the OIG reported that assessment errors are common in nursing homes.

Instead of fearing further scrutiny by federal authorities, providers should embrace the opportunity to get feedback in the form of PEPPER reports, legal experts said Oct. 20 at the LeadingAge annual meeting and exposition in Nashville.

Briggs Healthcare®, the leader in Home Health and Hospice documentation and regulatory solutions, announced a partnership with CareVoyant, an integrated software solution for Home Care, Long Term Care and Outpatient Medical Practices. “We are excited that this partnership with CareVoyant will offer the Briggs documentation that healthcare professionals have come to know and trust, now in a convenient and efficient electronic format.” says Jeff Kane, Vice President of Marketing.

Briggs Healthcare®, the leader in Home Health and Hospice documentation and regulatory solutions, announced a partnership with HHH Innovations, a provider of Electronic Organizational Management Systems (EOM).

In order to adhere to the CMS dementia care initiative to reduce the use of antipsychotic medications in treating residents with dementia, facilities will need to educate employees involved with every aspect of resident care. These role-specific Dementia Care Handbooks will help caregivers understand and address the challenging care needs of residents with dementia at each stage of the disease’s progression.

Briggs Healthcare®, the leader in Home Health and Hospice documentation and regulatory solutions, announced a partnership with HEALTHCAREfirst, a Web-based Home Health and Hospice software solution and services provider. “We are excited that this partnership with HEALTHCAREfirst will offer the Briggs documentation in an electronic format that is easy-to-implement and use, while keeping the look and feel of the Briggs forms that our customers have come to know and trust.” says Jeff Kane, Vice President of Marketing.

Long-term care facilities are by far the most common settings for Norovirus outbreaks, dwarfing the number of outbreaks in hospitals, according to government data released Tuesday.
More than 2,000 outbreaks of Norovirus originated in a long-term care facility between 2009 and 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Only about 120 outbreaks occurred in hospitals during those years.

Briggs Healthcare®, the leader in Long Term Care documentation and regulatory solutions, announced a partnership with //SOS/Corporation. “We are excited that this partnership with //SOS/Corporation introduces the first Electronic Medical Record containing officially licensed Briggs ® Documentation in an electronic format to the Long Term Care market.” says Jeff Kane, Vice President of Marketing. “It is exciting to see our official content in an EMR, but what they can do with custom reporting off of our documentation is the truly impressive part. //SOS/Corporation’s commitment to both software and service uniquely positions them to provide a complete package that is second to none.

Briggs Healthcare is pleased to announce a new partnership with myCNAjobs.com – an innovative caregiver recruitment program designed to help senior living recruiters streamline the process while learning more about the psyche of this workforce.

Natural disasters and catastrophic events by definition arise unpredictably and consequently do not remain even in the back of people's minds on a consistent basis. Nevertheless, disaster readiness is something that all long-term care providers should seriously consider during their management or operation team meetings
If you're not already having these discussions, it may not be too long before these talks are mandated, at least if LTC providers wish to continue participating in Medicare and Medicaid.

CMS announced in the LTC Open Door Forum that the Survey Guide will be revised 5/9/2013. Briggs will provide a timeline when the updates to the Survey Guide Manual will be shipping once the revision is posted. Stay tuned for more information!